Why Tesla (TSLA) Stock Is Higher Today

Nevada Governor Sandoval signed tax breaks worth as much as $1.3 billion and a measure allowing the electric automaker to sell directly to state residents.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) are slightly high in pre-market trade after Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval signed tax breaks worth as much as $1.3 billion and a measure allowing the electric automaker to sell directly to state residents, the final steps to bring the world's largest lithium-ion battery factory to Reno, Bloomberg reports.

Sandoval signed the bills minutes after the 42-member Assembly and 21-member Senate unanimously agreed to write off Tesla's sales taxes for 20 years and property and business taxes for 10 years. The tax breaks are the centerpiece of a deal that Sandoval and Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled Sept. 4 to land the first battery "Gigafactory" to supply 500,000 cars, Bloomberg said.

Lawmakers in a special session also exempted Tesla from a law requiring new cars to be sold through dealers, Bloomberg added.

TheStreet Ratings team rates TESLA MOTORS INC as a Hold with a ratings score of C-. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate TESLA MOTORS INC (TSLA) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, solid stock price performance and good cash flow from operations. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including unimpressive growth in net income, poor profit margins and generally higher debt management risk."